Like many people, I became a fan with I Kissed a Girl, a song that is both witty and warm, qualities that seldom coincide. At a time when the music business has squeezed out the middle, offering only massive stadium concerts or total oblivion, she’s resourcefully built a musical life — crowd-funding an album, touring with …
Much enjoyed for his appearances as a judge on the Food Network program “Chopped,” chef Marc Murphy has cooked at Le Miraville in Paris, Louis XV in Monte Carlo and Le Cirque in New York and is now the chef and owner of Landmarc among other restaurants. During our conversation, he proposed lowering the …
Internationally known for her installations – at MOCA, MOMA, the Venice Biennale, The Stedelijk in Amsterdam – her work often has a kind of implied narrative: you get the previews, the posters, the ads, but not the movie itself. This is the first in a series of shows at Glenn Horowitz Booksellers. 20 West … Continue reading »
The Tony-winning director of Raisin in the Sun, he was the artistic director of Atlanta’s Alliance Theater and has directed at Washington’s Arena Stage, Boston’s Huntington and Chicago’s Goodman. Among his film and TV credits are a remake of Steel Magnolias and a musical built on the work of Tupac Skakur. I’m almost certain these are two … Continue reading »
During our first season, I was fortunate to have Annette Gordon-Reed on the show. Born in Livingston, Texas, in 1958, she teaches both law and history at Harvard. Her book The Hemingses of Monticello won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. The day before we were to record, her person, the writer Christopher Hitchens, died after a … Continue reading »
A Harvard law professor, he is known both for his legal work and his staunch defense of Israel. Among clients – Leona Helmsley, Mike Tyson, Michael Milken, Claus von Bulow, O.J. Simpson. I met him last summer at a gamelan concert. Yes, that old Indonesian meet-cute. We spoke on stage at JCC Manhattan. PERSON: Telford … Continue reading »
During her tenure as food critic for the New York Times, she ate as many as four restaurant meals per day. But not in the same sitting. That would have been silly. She once tasted all 1,196 products in Bloomingdale’s food department – not a bar bet, an article. And a darn fine one. We … Continue reading »
The lead theater critic of the Times talks about the fantasy metropolis he’s searched for since he arrived in New York and offers his thoughts on innovation, grand gestures, and Gloria Vanderbilt. Person: Gloria Vanderbilt PLACE: London’s National Theater THING: a framed hundred dollar bill RANDY’S THING: his first Emmy Continue reading »
The guests on this episode are spouses. He is one of Ireland’s leading poets, the winner of the Pulitzer prize, and has written lyrics for Warren Zevon. She is a novelist whose 2012 Admission was made into a movie starring Tina Fey. I’m the shallow guy who went right for the celebrity connections. We … Continue reading »
He is the author of nine books including Wake Up, Sir and The Extra Man, and the creator of the HBO series Bored to Death. We spoke on stage at the Brooklyn Historical Society, joined by the delightful musician Walter Hawkes. Crowded? Not at all. Cozy. PERSON: his great aunt, Doris Klein PLACE: … Continue reading »
According to Bon Appétit, Andrew Tarlow invented Brooklyn, and you don’t want to argue with Bon Appétit: some enemies you do not need. Plus, it’s true that with the restaurants Diner, Marlow & Sons, and Roman’s, among his many enterprises, he is a titan of Brooklyn food. Yet what drew me to him was not … Continue reading »
He’s designed so much, so prominently, it is tough choose only a few examples, but we might cite the Portland Building, an early expression of postmodernism, and the elegant toilet brush he did for Target. That is, he values good design on the grand scale and in ordinary life. In 2003, he contracted what seemed … Continue reading »
He is the creator of Boardwalk Empire, who this year was nominated for an Oscar for writing Wolf of Wall Street. She was Oscar-nominated for producing Dallas Buyers Club, and she won. Pretty impressive couple. Pretty good year. We spoke on Shakespeare’s birthday on stage at the JCC in Manhattan. PERSON:Barry Manilow PLACE: Mammoth, CA … Continue reading »
It’s as hard to introduce writers as it is to make movies about them. Here’s what they do: they sit and write things. Not exactly lives crammed with event. I can say this: Tracy Smith won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for her collection Life on Mars. She teaches at Princeton and lives in Brooklyn, which … Continue reading »