Another Op’nin’, Another Show, Another Reason to Dress Up

I have a friend named Kelly who works as a wardrobe supervisor and dresser for Broadway shows. Over the years, she has invited me to be her plus-one date for several opening nights on the Great White Way, including the parties that immediately follow. Because of Kelly, I’ve had the privilege of attending the opening nights of The Seagull with Kristin Scott Thomas, A View from the Bridge with Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johannson, Death of a Salesman with Philip Seymour Hoffman and An American in Paris.

Kelly’s current gig is the wardrobe supervisor for the new production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer, and she invited me to attend what would be my last opening night as a New Yorker. As is our way, Kelly and I like to bring a sense of occasion to the affair, since we’re talking about an opening night in American theatre’s most prestigious form.

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November 2016 Playlist

The November 2016 Spotify playlist is up! While the last few playlists have had themes to them (“Rocktober” and “The Get Down”), this one is back to the original formula, which is no formula. It’s a happy three and a half hour mix of genres and eras, including tracks from Burt Bacharach, Drake, Bette Midler, Massive Attack, Tom Jones, Michael Kiwanuka, Radiohead, Dusty Springfield and many more. Enjoy!!

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That Glorious Day of the Dead Opener in SPECTRE

SPECTRE was not necessarily everyone’s favorite Bond movie. (Personally, I loved it.) But that legendary Day of the Dead scene in Mexico City was arguably the most incredible opening sequence in the entire Bond series, and certainly the most Halloween-appropriate.

Between the nearly three-minute single tracking shot that starts the sequence from the air, onto the ground, through a parade, into a hotel, up an elevator, then into a room… The beautifully costumed principals and extras… The dizzying helicopter action that ensues… It’s stunning.

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Falling In Love (again) with the Comedy Album

This is a great time for stand-up comedians and their fans. With more and more comedy specials arriving in the Netflix library by the boatload, as well as the legendary HBO comedy specials, comics have more opportunities to expose more fans to their wares and, thus, entice them to buy tickets to their live shows, which will always be the best way to see stand-up comedy.

When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, our only way to hear about comedians was from Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show or in the early days of cable with Caroline’s Comedy Hour and An Evening at the Improv on A&E. From there, we’d learn about our favorites and buy their comedy albums on vinyl or cassette. I had tapes from Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison, Dennis Miller (when he was still funny), Sandra Bernhard, Joan Rivers, early Comic Relief specials and many more. That was how it worked. It was all about the comedy album.

As much as I love a comedy special on Netflix or HBO, it’s good to get an audio-only comedy fix when you can’t watch, like when you’re driving, cutting the lawn, working out or whatever.

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“Jackie”

The idea of “Camelot” during the Kennedy years captivated the country. During and after the Kennedy presidency, then Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (later Onassis) continued to capture the attention and admiration of not just Americans but people over the globe. Her strength, her story, and her iconic glamour continue to fascinate us.

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The forthcoming film “Jackie” offers an intimate portrait of Mrs. Kennedy in the days immediately following the assassination of J.F.K. as a wife, a mother, and an American icon. A trailer for the film, directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Oscar winner Natalie Portman in the title role, was just released today.

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That Insane Video for DJ Shadow’s “Nobody Speak”

I think I just found my new favorite music video. Directed by Sam Pilling for the song “Nobody Speak” by DJ Shadow featuring Run the Jewels from the June 2016 album The Mountain Will Fall, the unofficial video depicts some kind of negotiation of international importance between the United States and the United Kingdom. Set to the truly fantastic track, the countries’ representatives are in disagreement from go, lip-syncing rhymes at one another as the meeting quickly devolves from discord to fury to full-on chaos. It’s exquisitely filmed, beautifully stunt-coordinated and lots of fun, and it includes inexplicable (but who cares?) cameos from a pig and a rooster. At a time of intense political and ideological strife, the video is making a clear and colorful statement about white male rage. I’ve survived some intense meetings in my day, but this is holy shit crazy. Enjoy.

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The Days of Joan and Roses

Two years ago today (September 4, 2014), we lost a legend. At the beginning of that summer, three months prior to Joan Rivers’ death, I received a phone call that changed my life, pitching an opportunity to work for a comedy icon I had admired since her days guest hosting The Tonight Show.

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Podcast Episode N.37: Watch Snobs, Dressing with Dignity and Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka

In this episode, I respond to some readers’ reactions to an article about a new affordable automatic tool watch that resembles similar watches on the luxury spectrum. I also share a few anecdotes about how dressing with a sense of occasion served me very well. The last segment is about what Gene Wilder’s performance as Willy Wonka meant to me as a young boy.

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