Month: July 2003

  • 3 Legged Race's Summer, Blizzard 2003

    The exciting thing about a night of works in progress is that you never know what you’re going to get, and it’s possible that the performers might not quite know either. The downside to that—well, it’s obvious, but the risk is worthwhile. 3 Legged Race’s fifth annual Blizzard invites five groups of artists from around…

  • Knothole Day

    I went to Benchwarmer Bob’s and picked up my first copy of The Rake, and I found the article about Ray Dandridge [“Stranded on Third,” July]. It was most interesting to me, since he is the only ballplayer I ever asked for an autograph. It’s still a vivid memory, climbing out of the stands at…

  • Hands Across the Ocean

    Though it is nearly 20 years ago now, some of us are old enough to remember the Official Preppy Handbook. It told girls called Muffy how to adjust their pearls, push pennies into their penny loafers and pursue men in tartan trousers (which they called plaid pants). The other day I came across the British…

  • Susan Tedeschi

    Tedeschi’s breakthrough came with her sophomore disc, Just Won’t Burn, which despite the title caught fire with blues fans, prompting numerous Bonnie Raitt comparisons and a Grammy nod in 2000. The followup, last year’s Wait for Me, picked up another nomination and, more important, showed significant improvement in her arrangements, adding a healthy touch of…

  • Does Poetry Matter?

    Being a poet in America makes as much sense as a butt full of pennies. That’s one of the pleasures of being a poet in America. There’s something wonderful, something perversely subversive about being disconnected from the world of goods and services and John Maynard Keynes, if only for an hour or two every now…

  • Steely Dan

    Steely Dan fell out of favor in the 80s and 90s, especially at the peak of alt-rock’s conquest. Jazzy pop-rockers Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were seen for what they apparently were: Studio mercenaries who worked their magic in velour control rooms. Besides, they were effectively retired. Remember, there actually was a time when rock…