I have raved before about Chateau Magence. This white Graves is thin as a Riesling, just more structured, and it packs a deceptively gentle punch. In New York, you can find it at K&D Wines (1366 Madison Avenue, phone: 212 289 1818), where the 2008 Magence goes for $9.99 a bottle — an insane price for a wine of this quality. Buy a case, save 10%. (If you live elsewhere, ask the best wine store in town to order it.)

Consumer warning: Watch it once, you’ll be addicted. 

Josh Ritter’s new CD, "So Runs the World Away", isn’t out until Tuesday, May 4, but prudent readers will pre-order it now. Daily Candy has a charming preview: Josh and his wife, Dawn Landes, doing one of his new songs in their kitchen. 

I know how it is. You really want to read Bill McKibben’s important new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. But you suspect it’s a downer. And anyway, what can one person do about climate change? I have a middle-path solution: Read Salon’s excellent interview with Bill McKibben. It’s short and to the point — at parties, you can get away with saying you read the book. (Of course, the Q&A might inspire you to get the book. But that’s your call.)

Boo-hoo. I have two fantastic Mark Knopfler tickets — Row F, dead center — but I have belatedly realized I can’t go. My loss can be your thrill. The concert is 8 PM, Wednesday, May 5, at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. Yours for my cost: $160 each. 

Fully furnished 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, on West 58^th Street, a block from Central Park. 12 months starting July 1. $4,200. For pictures and details, click here.

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.

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.

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. 

Some will say that Julia Roberts (America’s Sweetheart #1) was destined to play Elizabeth Gilbert (America’s Sweetheart #2) in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love. Watch the trailer. Decide for yourself. 

They’ve been through every permutation in their relationship, but if you saw them sing together at the MTV anniversary show (sadly, not on the web), you saw two men perform so brilliantly they looked at one another afterward, stunned. So we shouldn’t be surprised there’s a tour, starting in Canada in late April and then moving through the Plains. (More dates surely coming.)

My friend Julie turned me on to cancerchick.com, the web site of her friend Mary Herczog, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. Mary shared her ups and downs on this site for years; I got there late, when it was obvious she’d almost run out of time. On February 16, she finally gave it up; last weekend, there was a memorial service in Los Angeles. Julie wrote to me after: “I know it sounds weird, but it was life affirming and inspiring. The memorial started with Richard Thompson performing and ended with the traditional New Orleans’ style "Second Line" with a wonderful jazz brass band, at the oddly wonderful Hollywood Cemetery. She deserved it; she was beloved.” 

Nostalgic for the Olympics? No need. World-class athleticism has moved to Broadway, where the women in Twyla Tharp’s troupe are tossing off the dance equivalent of triple-axels and the men could teach Shaun White a thing or two about innovative leaps. Okay, I’m not a neutral observer — I was Ms. Tharp’s collaborator on her book, The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together — nor am I a dance critic. But even a casual theatergoer can’t miss the level of artistry in Come Fly Away, a dance musical built around the music of Frank Sinatra. Set in a night club, dancers pair up, break up, form new relationships, reunite. The words of love, regret and romantic hope are all Frank’s, who has never sung better; his pristine vocal tracks are supported by a massive — 19-piece — live band. But it’s the dancers, who reprise every great move that Twyla Tharp has devised over half a century and add some new ones, who flew me to the moon and back. 

… and so I have a crushette on Nichole Robertson, an American copywriter from New Jersey who gets to live in Paris for several months a year with her husband and two sons. Nicole has a jeweler’s eye, an advertising writer’s crisp prose, and priorities I admire: “Paris is a big source of inspiration to me, but unlike the stereotypical Francophile, I could care less about the fashion, the diet paradoxes or the "hot" spots. I like the way the light hits the centuries-old buildings, the unique juxtaposition of ancient and modern, the appreciation for beauty, the attention to detail, and of course the food.” A number of sites — Bonjour Paris, first and foremost — offer spirit-refreshing virtual visits to Paris. Add Little Brown Pen to the list — and to the Head Butler blogroll.   

…and so I have a crushette on Nichole Robertson, an American copywriter from New Jersey who gets to live in Paris for several months a year with her husband and two sons. Nicole has a jeweler’s eye, a advertiser writer’s crisp prose, and priorities I admire: “Paris is a big source of inspiration to me, but unlike the stereotypical Francophile, I could care less about the fashion, the diet paradoxes or the "hot" spots. I like the way the light hits the centuries-old buildings, the unique juxtaposition of ancient and modern, the appreciation for beauty, the attention to detail, and of course the food.” A number of sites — Bonjour Paris, first and foremost — offer sprit-refreshing virtual visits to Paris. Add Little Brown Pen to the list — and to the Head Butler blogroll.

The screenwriter of “Green Zone” (in theaters on March 12) describes it as “Three Days of the Condor” meets “Battle of Algiers.” Hmm. “Green Zone.” That’s Iraq. Title put you off? You avoid “political” movies? No matter — you’ll see this one. It stars Matt Damon. And was directed by Paul Greengrass, who collaborated with Damon in two small films you may have seen: “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” (He’s also the director of a great, neglected film called Bloody Sunday.) If you haven’t seen it, you have homework for “Green Zone” — Battle of Algiers, the greatest political/war movie ever made. Your reward for Remedial Viewing? The “Green Zone” trailer…. 

 In ‘White Hunter, Black Heart,’ Clint plays film director John Huston. (Thanks for this, Larry.)

Josh Ritter’s new CD, So Runs the World Away, comes out May 4^th.  An advance copy has come my way — and I play it so often it’s wrecking my life. Not kidding. These songs are urgent and beautiful, worldly and ethereal — they grab hard and don’t let go. Readers who live in cities where Josh and the Royal City Band will be playing and don’t snap up tickets now are going to feel extremely silly later. But don’t listen to me; do listen to ‘Change of Time.’

Gustiamo — the ultra-special Italian importer of artisanal food — meets you half-way (maybe more). The ladies write: