Even staunch conservatives lately have been calling Liz Cheney out for going too far (calling the DOJ, the Department of Jihad, for having the poor judgment to provide legal defense to Gitmo prisoners. So much easier to just drown them). Ken Starr and Lindsay Graham have been trying to distance themselves from the Cheneys, explaining that legal representation is an essential part of the US criminal justice system. I remember Liz and Dick in that brilliant film version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. They played a twisted, foul-mouthed couple in a spectacular insult marathon. You can’t look . . . and you can’t look away.
On Tuesday March 23 at 7 in the SVA Amphitheater we’ll have a unique panel of high-achieving SVA grads who have gone on to do innovative things in our field. As a teacher I’m always looking for the new directions for narrative art to move in. Of course the young artists will show us the way. So here are three. In addition, we’ve compiled a star-studded list of boldface names from the biz whose breakout work we’ll be showing:
Lou Beach, Alan Witschonke, Bob Staake, Chris Buzelli, Chris Spollen, Felix Sockwell, Frances Jetter, JD King, Joseph Daniel Fiedler, Leo Espinosa, Marc Burckhardt, Marcos Chin, Mark Fisher, Mark Ulichsen, Michael Moran, Michael Sloan, Nancy Stahl, Nate Williams, Patrick Dorian, Peter Kuper, Richard Borge, Richard Downs, Lou Brooks, Fernanda Cohen, Walter Vasconcelos, Inga Poslitur, Joe Ciardiello, Marcellus Hall, Jorge Colombo, Jeff Moores, John Hendrix, Paul Hoppe among others.
Many of these great artists will be on hand to discuss their work. Plus an intro by (possibly) the World’s Greatest Artist. Looks to me like we’re in serious danger of being off to a great start on the road to NEXT. Please come, admission is free.
Here’s to the Village Vanguard: the temple of Jazz. Not a museum but a living, breathing space for amazing miracles of music. And most of the greats have played there. Here’s my take on the club, going down recently to catch the JD Allen Trio. That’s Gregg August on bass and the otherworldly Tyshawn Sorey on drums. I took photos and did sketches though it was too dark for either. For once I relied mostly on the sketchbook. In the final, the right wall has Coltrane, Monk and Miles, and not the famous tuba that Max Gordon and his daughter Deborah bought at an auction long ago. A David Remnick edit. My thanks to him for loving jazz and going with this project for this week’s New Yorker and Lorraine Gordon, still takin’ no prisoners at 87. Coltrane’s “Impressions” included here; from a famous album recorded, guess where. Another 175, VV.
