November 08, 2010
Lady Killer
There’s no current musical artist more addicting than soul singer Cee Lo Green. His cheery yet bitter “Fuck You” was an instant hit that dropped from the sky in a late summer surprise and everyone from William Shatner to Gwyneth Paltrow are still covering it. Its “50s diner-set music video was the cherry on top of the sundae. Cee Lo, who’s also one-half of Gnarls Barkley, is back with his first solo album in six years, and it’s a doozy. “Bright Lights Bigger City” is a toe-tapping shimmying beat about livin” for the weekend that will be even bigger than his first single. And he does a U-turn with the soaring ballad “Old Fashioned” that channels Curtis Mayfield and Al Green”except Cee Lo’s better. NPR is streaming the whole album for impatient fans.
I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections
Nora Ephron is 69 years old”and she’s feeling wistful. Thankfully, the witty screenwriter and novelist never resorts to sappiness when summoning up her privileged Beverly Hills childhood, her contentious divorce from Carl Bernstein (in the droll “The D Word”), and her love of journalism in her newest book of essays, in stores Tuesday. In the opener, Ephron recalls that she recalls…basically nothing. Not the Beatles landing on U.S. soil, not the name of the Jeremy Irons film about Claus von Bulow, and not even meeting Eleanor Roosevelt. All is forgiven though, as her signature witty tone makes these memories go down as easy as the 150th viewing of When Harry Met Sally….
Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 10 “ April 10, 2011
The must-see photography show of the year has arrived. The Met is displaying 115 of its best works together. Alfred Stieglitz’s portraits and landscapes”and famous photo of Georgia O”Keeffe”are present, as are Edward Steichen’s fashion and celebrity photographs from Paris, and Paul Strand’s large platinum prints. Many of the best works are taken from Stieglitz’s famed journal Camera Work, and the diversity is astounding. The coffee table book that pairs with the show is the perfect Christmas gift idea for a budding or talented photographer.
Tracy Morgan: Black and Blue, HBO, November 13, 10pm
The swaggering comedian and 30 Rock scene-stealer has gone from being booed and ignored to an Emmy nominee in a few years. He makes his HBO debut next Saturday night during a performance taped last September at that grand institution known as the Apollo Theatre. Morgan’s not one for subtlety”a typical Michael Jackson joke goes like this: “The day after Michael died, I had on a T-shirt: ‘What about Tito?’” and he often jokes on the Tina Fey-fronted show about taking a girl out back and getting her pregnant. Which makes HBO the perfect venue for his brand of outrageousness.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda: A Musical, Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, London, November 9 “ January 30
The beloved children’s book about the little girl with a huge imagination is being brought to the stage by Dennis Kelly with music by Tim Minchin. Dahl’s wonderful storytelling should translate well to the theater”an American film was produced a number of years ago, but somehow it seems music will add what was missing to the adaptation. Tickets already went on sale in April but there should be a few more seats to scoop up. Not to fret, chances are it”ll be so good it could come to the States.
