Short Takes
October 16, 2013
Paul Simon: ‘Over the Bridge of Time’
Paul Simon just turned 72, and he has a new release. Actually, a new/old one: the first single disc compilation of the best of Simon & Garfunkel and Simon’s solo career. If you collect Simon’s CDs, you probably have all these songs. If not, "Over the Bridge of Time" isn’t a bad place to start. Or you could get it simply because, once again, I wrote the introductory notes.
How much do I admire Paul Simon? Like this: "In ‘Hearts and Bones,’ he wrote of ‘the arc of a love affair.’ The songs on this record trace a larger, longer arc — the arc of a life. Professionally, it is the stuff of legend: 12 Grammys, early induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the first recipient of the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The artist who has described himself in a song as ‘an ordinary player in the key of C’ is clearly joking; Paul Simon is the master of the popular masterpiece." [To buy the CD — and get the MP3 download free — from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
October 8, 2013
MixxCentury.com: a good idea, a good deal
“Who’s your decorator?” friends ask when they visit us in our new digs. The answer surprises them: King’s Lane and eBay. Too bad we finished the apartment before our good friend Holly Palance and Dawn Moore launched MixxCentury.com. They really do the mix: antiques and collectibles from their homes, antiques shops and more. Prices range from the no-brainer to the better-think-twice — but because MixxCentury has no physical presence, most treasures are as much as 60% off. And Holly’s blog is sharp and surprising — like her account of the old Spanish wood-carved Retablo that Jack Palance (yes, her father) acquired from a Spanish church when he was on location in a spaghetti western.
September 30, 2013
‘Breaking Bad’ Finale: ‘Guess I got what I deserved.’
The song that ended the last show. Back in the day, I taught Vince Gilligan in a screenwriting class at NYU. When he was reading from his script, no one missed class — there was nothing I could teach him. Yeah, that good.