Short Takes
April 4, 2017
“Baghdaddy” — an unlikely musical comedy storms Broadway
When I met Charlie Fink in 1996, he was head of the AOL venture capital division. He gave Carol Fitzgerald and me $3 million to start bookreporter.com, and I decided I liked him…a lot. (Just making sure you’re paying attention — it wasn’t $3 million.) Now Charlie is a force in the arts and is the producer of “Baghdaddy.” When he staged it Off-Broadway, the Times review called it “an important, cunning rock solid musical comedy.” Now that it’s moving to the St. Luke’s Theater on 46th Street, it’s not just bigger, but more timely: It begins with the only political-asylum specialist who speaks Arabic interviewing an Iraqi defector at the Frankfurt airport. And then – I know it sounds unlikely, but it is so — it rocks. Previews start April 6, the opening is May 1. Tickets and information here. And I’ll see you there.
March 31, 2017
“In Search of Israeli Cuisine” — It’s nothing like what your grandmother cooked.
Israeli cuisine — is that an oxymoron, like, say, Kosher fish? But as the American-born Israeli chef and restaurateur Michael Solomonov tours Israel in “In Search of Israeli Cuisine,” a feature-length documentary just opening somewhere near you (click for cities and theaters), we get a lot more than a Food Network make-them-hungry travelogue. Roger Sherman, the director: “I wanted to make a film about the Israeli people told through food that was neither a travelogue or polemic about failed government policies, which is all the media discusses. Yet, the conflict is ever present, even when discussing food, and could not be ignored. That every chef told me, ‘You cannot be my enemy when you’re sitting at my table’ resonated.” So you get restaurants and kitchens, beaches, deserts and olive groves — but you also get a debate about hummus (who knew?) and the larger culture. And, fair warning: you also get hungry.
March 29, 2017
These “reflections of an ordinary life” are anything but ordinary.
Katrina Kenison is one of those people who would much rather get you talking than gas on about herself. Her life, she contends, is “ordinary.” Her writing, she’ll say, is about small things. But as I’ve learned, late in life but maybe just in time, the little moments are the big ones: watching TV with the kid, a postcard to a friend, the last words before sleep. In Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment, Kenison serves up her small moments so accurately and tenderly they read like one-act plays. Now she’s collected her blog posts and other writing in which she “searches for the story beneath the story” in “Moments of Seeing: Reflections from an Ordinary Life.” When I find myself in times of trouble, I read a take or two, and feel a smart, gentle hand on my forehead, and, more often than not, the fever cools. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here.]
March 17, 2017
Dawes: Smart Pop for Sentient Adults
Taylor Goldsmith, lead singer of Dawes, doesn’t have the look of a rock star, but this is Alternative Rock, a sub-genre that places a premium on writing. And here there are few better. Dawes once toured with Bob Dylan, an honor they hoped might turn into friendship. Dylan ignored them. After the final concert of the tour, as he was walking out, he nodded as he passed Goldsmith. “Nice song,” he said, and kept going. A very nice song indeed, performed here solo acoustic:
Dawes is making a major tour to promote its new release, “We’re All Gonna Die.” A friend and I went to the Beacon to see if they were as good live as they are on our home speakers. Verdict: just as good.
As you listen, you’ll do well to pay close attention to the lyrics. Samples:
Why are the people we love the same ones we can also hate?
The stars are just the holes punched in a shoebox/ That gives a creature all the air he needs to breathe.
Every promise was negotiable/ Most of all the ones they made alone/ When she finally forgave/ What he’ll take to his grave/ Learning not to pick up the phone
I’m asking now for reconciliation/ I’m asking now for what we have to say/ I’m asking now for both of us to do a little changing/ I wanna dance with you/ forever, in this one cabaret/ If we just allow ourselves, it’ll be okay
[To buy the CD and get a free MP3 download, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
February 27, 2017
PREVIEW: Garland Jeffreys, “14 Steps to Harlem”
His mother worked in a Domino sugar plant. His father took the train from Sheepshead Bay to his job in a Harlem factory. Thanks to their dedication and love, their son was able to go to Syracuse. And in 1973, when Garland Jeffreys got a gold record for “Wild In the Streets,” he gave it to his parents. “That was fantastic,” he says. “They knew that was valuable, right in front of them, and that their investment in me had paid off.” Half a century later, the kid who grew up on doo-wop and used the sound of the streets to become one of the kings of New York soul music has recorded a CD that looks back to his heritage. “14 Steps To Harlem” won’t be out for months, but if it’s like the title song, you can see the movie in your head. [To pre-order the CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]