Its primary accomplishment is its bluntness, reflected in the subtitle A Candid Look at Broadway. No writer has better captured the way theater insiders actually talk about their craft. Goldman listens in on artists discussing how to fix shows out of town, to curmudgeonly patrons and critics on the aisle, and to producers working out how to make money—even on flops. Goldman never wrote another book about the theater, and he wrote this one with the unmistakable swagger and detail of someone who can burn every bridge because he knows that his subsequent career will be elsewhere.
Tag: 11.16.18
The Human Brain As Time Traveler
In just a few minutes of mental wandering, you have made several distinct round trips from past to future: forward a week to the important meeting, forward a year or more to the house in the new neighborhood, backward five hours to today’s meeting, forward six months, backward five years, forward a few weeks. You’ve built chains of cause and effect connecting those different moments; you’ve moved seamlessly from actual events to imagined ones. And as you’ve navigated through time, your brain and body’s emotional system has generated distinct responses to each situation, real and imagined. The whole sequence is a master class in temporal gymnastics.
An Iconic Seattle Music Venue Under Development Threat
The Showbox is nothing special architecturally, but it has been home to a generation of music fans. Now the venue is in danger of being torn down for a highrise. “The city is now trying to say, ‘Oops we made a mistake,’ after people have invested and relied upon the zoning. Then this is what you get in response. You get lawsuits.”
It’s The End Of The Teen Mag (Thank God)
“In the year 2000, there were seven major teen magazines publishing monthly; now, there are none. This makes me feel incredibly old, but even so: I am glad that teen magazines are dead.” As Seventeen and Teen Vogue, the last survivors of the genre, go out of print, Rebecca Onion argues that this is a healthy development.
‘We Want To Use Music To Create Better People’ — Philadelphia’s Project 440
“Project 440 is the brainchild of Joseph Conyers, assistant principal bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, who often explains to people that yes, he does operate a music organization that doesn’t teach music.” Says Conyers, “The arts can play a pivotal role in underserved communities, giving kids opportunities, giving them things that they keep for the rest of their lives.”
At Work With The Ushers At The Metropolitan Opera
“As a shift begins, they pass into the cloakroom to put on their uniforms — tuxedos with burgundy lapels, worn shiny from use. Forty-two work any given performance, each at once a rule keeper, hand holder, problem solver, diplomat.”
Artist Ross Bleckner And Ex — Ex-Assistant? Or Ex-Boyfriend? — Sue Each Other
“Bleckner claims the relationship was personal and consensual in nature, and alleges that [Cody] Gilman attempted to extort him by making false claims of sexual harassment. Gilman, for his part, contends that the relationship was professional and that he was subject to inappropriate sexual behavior by the artist and had been attempting to reach an out-of-court settlement.”
Pining For An Age Of Reason (And When Was That, Exactly?)
If we are to heal the divides of the contemporary historical moment, we should give away the fiction that reason alone has ever held the day. The present warrants criticism, but it will do no good if it’s based on a myth about some glorious, dispassionate past that never was.
Macklemore: Music Saved Me, And Now I Want To Save Kids
“I want to give them that magic that is hearing yourself on headphones for the first time. Like, that is a spiritual experience. If you are an artist, if you are a rapper, a singer and you hear your voice on headphones for the first time, that’s God right there.”
After Investigation, The Pulitzer Prize Board Keeps Junot Díaz
Díaz removed himself as board president in May, after “writer Zinzi Clemmons accused Mr. Díaz of forcibly kissing her when she was a graduate student at Columbia University, prompting a divisive debate within the literary world over Mr. Díaz’s actions and whether he should be held accountable.” The Pulitzer Prize board said it found no reason to remove the novelist from the board.