Criticals

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Criticals, Short Cuts

Short Cuts: CD Roundup/November 2006

November 8, 2006

Audra McDonald, Build a Bridge (Nonesuch). Once again one of the most beautiful voices in musical theater wraps her mezzo around a mix of quasi-theater and pop songs. When it works—in a medley of Laura Nyro songs and the surprising, thoughtful rendition of John Mayer’s My Stupid Mouth (note to singers: words matter, acting counts)—McDonald…

Criticals, Short Cuts

Short Cuts: Ian Shaw’s In a New York Minute

October 7, 2006

For listeners enamored of classic jazz collaborations between pianists and vocalists—Cassandra Wilson/Jacky Terrasson’s Rendezvous and Janis Siegel/Fred Hersch’s Shortstories come to mind—here’s a worthy addition to the canon, courtesy of the UK singer Ian Shaw and the American virtuoso Cedar Walton. In all fairness, though Shaw and Walton are the frontmen, they aren’t the only…

Criticals, Short Cuts

Short Cuts: Can’t-A-Black-Man-Get-A-Decent-Shave Dept/Summer 2006

July 8, 2006

Lab Series for Men Maximum Comfort Shave Cream, 8oz $15 Among the samples I obtained from Sephore, this was the first cream I tried. Aloe and caffeine (a wake-up word!) are trumpeted as active ingredients: its smooth, pearly texture required very little to cover, but within moments I noticed a weird numbing around the edges…

Books, Criticals

Sundered Siblings

November 27, 2005

A Book of Reasons by John Vernon Houghton Mifflin, 256 pages In her novella The Age of Grief the writer Jane Smiley notes the moment when “the barriers between the circumstances of oneself and of the rest of the world have broken down.” A similar dawning pervades John Vernon’s autobiographical A Book of Reasons. When his older…

Books, Criticals

Couples Therapy

November 29, 2004

As Toni Sciarra Poynter descends the escalator into the basement of the midtown atrium appointed for our chat, a quote springs to mind: “There will always be more chores to do, and dust will conquer us in the end.” All around, the sounds of hammering and buzz saws permeate the air; like a marriage, the…

Criticals

Martha Stewart’s Kitchen Sink Redemption

November 13, 2003

In recent years, Get Martha Stewart has become one of our nation’s favorite pastimes. From the feds to hamstrung kitchenistas, all have lined up for a piece of this nouveau icon and is it really a surprise? The backlash had been building for some time—weary were the legions of housewives and gay men unable to…

Art, Criticals

Provocateurs

June 30, 2003

Pierre et Gilles Robert Miller Gallery 524 West 26th Street, Chelsea May 14 through June 28, 2003 Pierre et Gilles are back in town to challenge our provincial attitudes, charm us with their showmanship, and provide an illicit frisson for good measure. Fans will recognize the glossily suffocating kitsch these artists traffic in, though not necessarily from their…

Criticals, My back pages

The Art of the Possible

June 1, 2003

Lisa Moore, Joe’s Pub My first crush was on a pianist. Mildred Adams was a walking china doll whose pigtail braids draped her shoulders like a shawl. At various elementary school assemblies, sporting her delicate demeanor and rhinestone-studded princess glasses, her piano skills inspired jealousy and awe in her peers. Later in life, I realized that my “crush”…