Box
Populi: TV columnist BRENDAN BERNHARD on Edward
Said’s last stand.
Hollywood
Book of the Dead Buddhism
for dummies: An excerpt from BRUCE WAGNER’s new novel, Still
Holding.
All
Tomorrow’s Parties Today The Simpsons and Life in Hell creator
Matt
Groening talks to JOHN PAYNE about curating All Tomorrow’s Parties,
his former days as a cantankerous music critic and how to stay reasonably
sane in a world gone terribly, terribly dull. Go ahead, have a cow!
All
A-Bored:
With the Zev vs. Neil show idling buses and trains for a third week,
ROBERT GREENE shares his tale of two strikes — the mechanics, and
the janitors of 2000.
The
Anti-Patriots: An odd combination of right- and left-wing thinkers
unites against the excesses of Ashcroft’s anti-terrorism program.
BY HOWARD BLUME
Down
and Dirty Democrats: Desperate times are here, and the nine who
would be president are bloodying themselves. How can a leader emerge?
BY DAVID CORN
The
Ecology of Fire: JOSHUAH BEARMAN drives in the charred backcountry
with Ecology of Fear’s Mike
Davis; SUSAN ZAKIN on why the empire wanted
to burn so badly.
Plus, HOWARD BLUME reviews the mixed record of new education secretary
Richard
Riordan; and ROBERT GREENE examines two
free-speech rulings involving the Glendale Galleria and Johnnie
Cochran.
A
CONSIDRABLE TOWN
LESLIE GORNSTEIN with designers trying to catch the eye of Henri Bendel
buyers; MARY BETH CRAIN with the medium trying to raise the spirit
of Sid Grauman; HOWARD BLUME on the mensch-making of Irv Rubin; and
PETER FLETCHER on L.A. pigeons.
CONSIDERABLE
PEOPLE
Power source: JOHNNY ANGEL bench-presses with power-lifter Jan Gable.
Student teacher: ERIN AUBRY KAPLAN gets a lesson
in organizing from Youth Organizing Communities’ Maria Brenes.
DEADLINE
HOLLYWOOD
A rnold’s true lie: When The Gropinator’s campaign slyly smeared Rhonda
Miller, his election-eve accuser, some media took the bait. Why has
only Miller suffered the consequences? BY NIKKI FINKE
DISSONANCE
With Iraq and Bush spinning out of control, MARC COOPER takes on the
Democrats and the peace movement.
QUARK
SOUP
Brain worlds: Stephen Hawking, Jacques Derrida and living with the
other. BY MARGARET WERTHEIM
A
LOT OF NIGHT MUSIC Elliott
Carter’s knotty Night Fantasies; Evgeny Kissin’s sprightly
Schubert; Salonen’s magnificent Mahler. BY ALAN RICH
STYLE What
L.A. Style? KATERI BUTLER on the California sportswear monster
that ate L.A. Fashion Week . . . and the designers who valiantly fought
back.
PULPit Broken
Bricks: A comic by SOUTHER SALAZAR, starring Fervler and Razzle.
Playwright John W. Lowell’s witty and elegant drama is loosely based on aspects of the romance between composer Benjamin Britten and his lover, singer Peter Pears. More than that, though, the passionate roman à clef provides a compelling meditation on themes of mortality and compromise intrinsic to middle age, whether one is gay or not. Distinguished opera performer David Williams (Alan Brooks) has cared for his lover, composer Peter Billings (William McCauley), for decades. Crises threaten the pair’s relationship as Billings’ health fails amidst a severe case of composer’s block, and Williams dallies adulterously with a besotted young grad student (Seth Resnick) who has been worshipfully helping the older man. The revelation of infidelity forces Billings and Williams to confront what they’ve turned into as they’ve grown older. Lowell’s script juggles sharp, unusually literate dialogue with penetrating, nuanced psychological portraits that eschew campy stereotypes. And, while the play’s first scene is overwritten and static, threatening to establish a fusty mood, the work quickly rights itself as the stronger emotional elements come into play. Director Randy Brenner’s elegiac staging is tinged with hints of melancholy, and the acting work crackles: The way Brooks’ motor-mouthed Williams masks his guilty feelings with patter is powerful — as is the way McCauley’s Billings sublimates his feelings of betrayal into self loathing of his own failing body and mind. Celebration Theater, 7051-B Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; mat Sun., 3 p.m.; thru Nov. 29. (323) 957-1884. Written 10/30/2003 (Paul Birchall)
