Choral music: great singers, in harmony, in praise of God. The Tallis Scholars are the pinnacle. And I had 2 extra tickets to the concert in NYC.
Weekend Butler: Survival 101: This Edition Is All About Good People.
— SURVIVAL 101: THIS EDITION IS ALL ABOUT GOOD PEOPLE A new book by historian Niall Ferguson argues that if anti-slavery northerners had been less condescending towards slave-owning southerners, the Civil War might have been averted. Matt Gaetz says he might offer Kyle Rittenhouse a job as a congressional intern. Liz Cheney has been expelled from the…
Norman Mailer’s Sister Has Written a Memoir. He’s in It, and She’s Candid
— Buy it on Amazon. GUEST BUTLER RON FRIED is the author of two novels, as well as a collection of profiles of 20th century boxing trainers. More recently, he’s written a novel about the gangster Frank Costello, as well as a play about Norman Mailer, which is slated for an off-Broadway production in 2022.…
This Is Because of the Climate Summit. This Is Because Venice Has Banned Cruise Ships From Lurking Over the City. This Is Because I’m Finishing a Book and Would Like To Sit In a Foreign Cafe and Hear This Guy Sing
— Buy it on Amazon. This is because of the climate summit. This is because Venice has banned cruise ships from lurking over the city. This is because I’m finishing a book and would like to sit in a foreign cafe. The pianist is smoking a cigarette — unfiltered, at that. He wears a tuxedo,…
Weekend Butler: Kurt Vonnegut. Elephants in Mourning. The Ending of ‘The Sopranos.’ And 3 Remarkably Human Stories.
— The news of the week is rarely good, and this week is no exception. Hard to believe, but the Supreme Court will rule on a NRA argument that the Constitution allows us not only to own guns but, for self-defense, to carry them everywhere. Joe Manchin still acts like he’s President. And the election…
Her First, Very Somber Book Won the Pulitzer for Biography. Her New Biography Is About Polly Adler, a Notorious Madam.
— Buy it on Amazon. When I met Debby Applegate, who had graduated summa cum laude from Amherst and collected a Ph.D. in American Studies at Yale, it was clear she was super smart. Not that her intelligence was much consolation. Like me, she seemed to be struggling with a book. Unlike me, she struggled with her…
Weekend Edition: Heather Cox Richardson Is Required Reading. A Gorgeous Song. A Racy Novel. A Life Coach on Zoom.
— REQUIRED READING: HEATHER COX RICHARDSON One of the consolations of working late is ”Letters from an American,” the daily dispatch from Heather Cox Richardson that usually arrives around midnight. She doesn’t break news, she does something better: she interprets the news. And she’s better at this than anyone else now claiming pundit’s status because…
Halloween! Here’s a Spooky Novel To Read to Kids Who Like Spooky Stories
A Holiday House for Kids. With One Catch: They Can’t Leave. Think: 'Hotel California' for the Young.
A Holiday House for Kids. With One Catch: They Can’t Leave. Think: ‘Hotel California’ for the Young.
Stevie Van Zandt — He’s a Lot More Than the Guy in the Bandana Who Played Guitar for Springsteen and Was the Consigliere in ‘The Sopranos’, and It’s All in His Memoir.
— Buy it on Amazon. “February 8, 1964, there was not one single rock ‘n’ roll band in the country,” Stevie Van Zandt writes in his memoir. “February 9, the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show. “Goodbye school, grades, any thoughts of college, straight jobs, family unity and American monoculture.” A year later, 15-year-old Stevie…
Weekend Butler: Are the Rich Really Different? John le Carré.
A history lesson about vaccines. A lullaby. And a Head Butler field trip.
— Buy it on Amazon. THE RICH REALLY ARE DIFFERENT F. Scott Fitzgerald may have said: “The very rich are different from you and me.” Ernest Hemingway may have replied: “Yes, they have more money.”. I spent half a decade in close proximity to one of America’s richest women and her privileged friends, and in…
Weekend Butler: Al Green, Mike Pence, Leonard Cohen, Joe Manchin — ‘Who Shall I Say Is Calling?’
— “WHO SHALL I SAY IS CALLING?” I was going to lament that the future of American democracy is, to an alarming degree, hot-wired to Joe Manchin’s a$$. That Joe Manchin, who worries about government spending and yet has accumulated, while in government, a net worth of $7.6 million and yet is only the 19th richest…
Charlie Watts ‘Looked Like a Guy That Came in Through the Wrong Door and the Band Asked Him to Play’
Nonsense. It was his band. He never wrote a book. Keith Richards wrote a great one.
— Buy it on Amazon. When I was starting to date someone, I occasionally asked, “Who’s the most important Rolling Stone?” The typical answer is, “Mick Jagger, no contest.” Sorry. Charlie Watts was the right answer. (An easy way to tell: Keith often played with his back to the audience because he was playing to…
Weekend Butler: The Beauty Issue — Elton John, Marlon Brando, the Best Upbeat Movie That’s Not Sappy, a Gardener Who Grew Children, and More
— I’d planned a different lineup. Then the Texas legislature not only banned abortion, it deputized vigilantes to turn in anyone who assisted in one, starting with cab drivers. That was expected. The Supreme Court ruling — it declined even to discuss the appeal — was a surprise that earned a brutal dissent from Justice…
Evacuation Stories Are the Flavor of the Week. Of Course We Think of Dunkirk
For the most heart-tugging story ever, there's only one. "The Snow Goose."
For the most heart-tugging story ever, there’s only one. “The Snow Goose.”
Weekend Butler: COVID Roulette. Going to School With My Daughter. A Short Beach Novel That’s Smart and Hot
— THE WEEKLY RANT: COVID ROULETTE I know people — smart, accomplished, respected — who aren’t vaccinated. Some have told me why. They have “better facts” than scientists like my brother, who works on vaccines and is a great deal smarter than his sibling. They’re champions of natural immunity — translated, what they’re essentially saying:…
Stormy Weather, at Every Level. A Good Time for Humor. Like Mitch Hedberg: ‘An Escalator Can Never Break — It Can Only Become Stairs.’
— Buy it on Amazon. ”I used to do drugs,” Mitch Hedberg joked. ”I still do drugs. But I used to, too.” On March 29, 2005, that line stopped being funny — he was found dead in a New Jersey motel room. Cause of death: heroin. He was 37 years old. Mitch would be the…