July 2017

Hotel Breakfast Buffet Nightmares: The Compilation

Last week at the kick-ass US Represented staff party, my colleagues and I had an interesting conversation about travel. Eric, our esteemed editor-in-chief, told us he’s planning a trip to Greece next summer and wanted to know whether he should rent a car and strike out on his own or hang with a tour group. Pretty much everyone was in agreement with him that going solo instead of being the

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Happy Birthday, Stanley Kubrick

I don’t mistrust sentiment and emotion, no. The question becomes, are you giving them something to make them a little happier, or are you putting in something that is inherently true to the material? Are people behaving the way we all really behave, or are they behaving the way we would like them to behave? I mean, the world is not as it’s presented in Frank Capra films. People love

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Hey, Who’s That Guy with Judy Collins?

Yes, that’s me, as close to heaven as I’m likely to get here on Earth. I’ve been a Judy Collins fan for many years, but this last year she’s put me over the top with her new work with the songs of Stephen Sondheim. My sister hates Judy’s haircut, but, well, Judy Blue Eyes has entertained so many for so long that she should be able to wear her hair

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Movie Review: Dunkirk

I was extremely disappointed when Shakespeare in Love beat out Saving Private Ryan for the Best Picture Academy Award in 1999. Granted, SiL was clever and quirky, mimicking Shakepeare’s own rom-coms. It’s also the sort of hip film Hollywood likes to reward with its highest cinematic honor. Despite winning Best Picture, however, Shakespeare in Love appears to have been buried somewhere in the vaults of the Creative Industrial Complex. I

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LADIES SING THE BLUES: A Music Company Production

On a blustery evening not long ago, I found myself witnessing one of the greatest nights of music I have heard in my forty years of playing and following R&B. This concert featured four of the most seasoned, savvy, and inspired vocalists, backed by a cracker-jack quartet, that this listener has ever been privileged to experience. The aforementioned ladies are Lila Mori, Juanita Martin, Erica Brown and Jill Watkins, and

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The Geezer Brigade

My mother does this weird thing with coffee: She doesn’t drink it. Oh, she still expects the nursing home staff to bring her a cup every morning. She just lets it sit there, untouched. Then after 45 minutes, she picks up her plastic mug (a sippy cup for elderly people, just without the lid and spout), takes a drink, and announces, “It’s cold.” She always seems completely surprised by this

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