Zach Shaves His Beard; But What About Babies in Bars?

Brooklyn resident (and, according to his monologue on SNL, a self-described Brooklyn hater -- how cool is that) Zach Galifianakis hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend and did his thing.  Between the pentulitmate skit and the show's closing, ZG appeared with beard, then sans beard, and then with beard again.  Web discussion, which also gaved some mixed reaction on the Humor Quotient of the overall show,  debated whether he in fact actually shaved or not, or was wearing a fake beard for the entire show, or wore a prosthesis over his beard for the close. SNL and Hulu have now revealed that the star of  The Hangover, Visioneers, Hangover 2, HBO's Brooklyn-based "Bored to Death" and other mirthful projects did in fact shave off his beard before the show ended, appearing at the closing with a fake beard.  Hulu reveals all:



Ain't it cool..And, with all of the recent chatter about babies in bars, Zach would be the perfect new Brooklyn rez to provide feedback on that.  Zach is cool.

When Tigers Fight,It is the Grass that Suffers: Cablevi$ion & WAB¢-TV Battle Shuts Out Oscars for Some NYers

After a few days of Orwellian-Outer Limits cable hijacking ("Do not attempt to touch your TV.We will control your horizontal") where your default channel on start up was channel 1999, presenting a constant barrage of  anti-ABC propaganda, countered by print and media ads from WABC with their own agit prop, WABC TV is finally off the air.  Although I am a big fan of cinema I am not a big Academy Awards show watcher. At the point, when  I was maybe 10, and I realized that I was never going to there or a part of that scene, the voyeuristic/celebrity/fan quality of it embarrased me a little, and  while I will tune in, I am more likely to watch the whole Super Bowl or sit through the entire World Series, even though I am not a devoted sports fan, than sit through the Oscars.

Anyway, Cablevision may be right, who wants to pay more, or then  again maybe it is ABC-TV, since Cablevision already charges enough  and it appears to be a very lucrative enterprise. I do resent being thrown into the middle of this, between broadcasters and cable companies. No matter what, cable costs will continue to rise, whether the money is going into the pockets of the Dolan Family or ABC stockholders.

What this suggests perhaps is that Cable should be more competitive and we should be able to choose between Time Warner and Cablevision and whoever else chooses to get into the game. Sure, the Cable companies own and maintain the cable, and the cable boxes, that is their industry, but perhaps ultimately that monopoly will be usurped. As Cablevision's propaganda continues to report, we can't watch the Oscars on Cablevision, but we can watch it on Hulu or other places on the internet.

Ironically, perhaps Cablevision and ABC are offering an unwitting harbinger for the future, where all media will be available through the internet, or some new wireless TV/computer hybrid. Yes, as Chairman Mao may have said, when tigers fight it is the grass that suffers. Cablevision has already dropped the Food Network and HGTV as  result of  a battle over programming fees in January, so customers are receiving a diminished services, although our fees aren't dropping. But perhaps as a result of this latest battle, while we will always pay for our media services, the battleground may shift and new alternatives may arise that will be eagerly embraced by customers who coninue to pay and pay and pay for services, while the corporations continue to enrich themselves, and place us in the middle while they are unable to reasonable settle their corporate wars. After all, that competition and opportunity, and not "credit default swaps," represent the true beauty of free enterprise.

Democracy and Character: Political Musings Before the Weekend

All Things Considered, Would the Founding Fathers Smile?

Daily News reports on a poll that shows that Governor Patterson's public support is in "freefall" as fewer than half of New Yorkers want him to finish out his term.

At the same time, an article on "Journal of the Plague Year" a book about the administration and resignation of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, by his long-time aide and friend Lloyd Constantine:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/03/05/2010-03-05_eliot_spitzer_book.html

In the Constantine book, he notes that he and the Governor's wife, Silda Spitzer, were the only members of the inner circle who advised Mr. Spitzer not to resign, to sit out the conflict and turmoil, and not leave office unless legally compelled.

The issue with all of the above, with David Patterson as with Mr. Spitzer and for that matter Congresman Charles Rangel, seems to be a fundamental one: the meaning of democracy and elections.

We are in an era of billionaires and millionaires self-financing their campaigns at every level. Then again, elected officials are being driven from office by the pressures created by media and internet coverage of personal and political crises.  Although Gov. Patterson is presented as heedless of the public outcry, and while he may well be guilty of  applying pressure on a victim of domestic violence to avoid the political fallout, his guilt has not yet been formally proven or documented and neither he has been indicted or charged with any crime.

Arguably, from a pragmatic level, Mr. Spitzer may have been unable to continue to manage his administration  with the news cycle insanity and folly that followed his being exposed as "Client 9."  Nevertheless, that 21st century nexus of money and media seems to have reached its apotheosis. Just as the democratic freedoms we enjoy likely do make us easier targets to the terrorists, enemies and criminals who seek to undermine and destroy us, is it also likely that our first amendment freedoms are undermining our electoral system?  It is a complex, enigmatic problem, perhaps as further reflected in the Supreme Court's recent endorsement of the loosening of corporate contributions and funding of political campaigns.  The daily countdown and newspaper headlines fit in so neatly with the movement of the 24 hour newscycle. Sure, State Senator Hiram Montserrat held out and was removed from office. But aside from his apparent personal demons and malfeasance, he does have the gumption to re-run for his vacated seat, let democracy sort it out. Whether Gov. Patterson will be the next NYS official to weather the pressures of the media onslaught, and await the outcome of the investigation before resigning, despite the pressure, remains to be seen. You can't get on an elevator in this town without someone musing on "will he resign today?"

But think about it from a constitutional perspective: having the fortitude to remain in office, despite the headlines, the blogs and mainstream media coverage, and awaiting the outcome of an investigation, even knowing that the outcome may be eventual resignation or impeachment anyway? That might be a real display of character.

-Brooklyn Beat

Left Coast Politics: Run, Jerry Brown, Run

Jerry Brown today (with Gov. Schwarzenegger)

Gov. Brown's official State portrait 1975-1983

Tabbed as “Governor Moonbeam” by out-of-state (Chicago) columnist Mike Royko (an appelation that Royko later recanted), because of his proposal back in the 1970s that California have a stationary communications satellite orbit over the state for emergency communications service (an idea that was later implemented), Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown, remains a visionary, who thrives on viewing government, politics , social and economic issues from “out of the box.”

And now, at 71, after a long career in California politics, currently serving as State Attorney General, Brown has announced his candidacy to replace the current, term-limited incumbent, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unopposed in his own party, with wealthy, but lesser known rivals, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, staking out the GOPs turf, his chances at re-election to a 3rd term, may not be so far-fetched.

Brown’s colorful personal life (a Catholic and Zen practitioner), which included sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the Governor’s mansion and dating rock star Linda Ronstadt, is tangent with his creative and out-of-the-box political and cultural views, with pithy and pungent quotes such as:

"Prisons don't rehabilitate, they don't punish, they don't protect, so what the hell do they do?”


"The government is becoming the family of last resort”

"Multinational corporations do control. They control the politicians. They control the media. They control the pattern of consumption, entertainment, thinking. They're destroying the planet and laying the foundation for violent outbursts and racial division.”


"Inaction may be the biggest form of action.”

Video: Former Gov. Jerry Brown's announcement of his new election bid

Michael Rothfeld in the LA Times reports that “Saying the antidote to California's problems is "someone with an insider's knowledge but an outsider's mind," Jerry Brown, the Democratic state attorney general, announced his candidacy for governor Tuesday in a video on his website.

"Our state is in serious trouble, and the next governor must have the preparation and the knowledge and the know-how to get California working again," Brown, 71, said in the taped message. "That's what I offer."


Brown, who was the state's governor from 1975 to 1983, attempted to contrast himself with his Republican opponents, particularly Meg Whitman, the former EBay chief who has never held public office. He also sought to use voters' frustration with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former actor who came into office in the 2003 recall, to argue against repeating that pattern with Whitman or one-term state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.


"Some people say that if you've been around the process, you can't handle the job, that we need to go out and find an outsider who knows virtually nothing about state government," said Brown, who has also been California secretary of state and Oakland mayor. "Well, we tried that, and it doesn't work. We found out that not knowing is not good."

Brown was light on specifics, and the ideas he offered were not so different from what Republicans are saying. He vowed that, "in this time of recession . . . there will be no new taxes, unless you the people vote for them" -- leaving open the possibility of more taxes when the economy mends.

Like Whitman and Poizner, he called for smaller government and more power for local officials and school districts. And he said he would try to ease Sacramento's "partisan paralysis."


Even before Brown announced, Whitman released a "Voter's Guide to Jerry Brown" with a list of "fiscal failures" from his record on taxes and spending. In a statement, she contrasted her private-sector experience with Brown's "40-year career in politics which has resulted in a trail of failed experiments, undelivered promises, big government spending and higher taxes."

Poizner said the state needs "bold, new conservative solutions" and "cannot fall prey to the same high-tax policies and special interest-run government that has led our state into a fiscal disaster."

One interesting comment from the web:

A former two-term governor who disappointed the left and right by being a free thinker, left the state with one of its largest budget surpluses (without raising taxes to do it), and has the independence of not having higher aspirations that will allow him to stand up to legislators and make hard choices in balancing the budget--who'd want that? I don't understand people who think a CEO is the solution to government's problems. Would you select a politician to right a flagging corporation?

LA TIMES link here


More on the life and politics of Jerry Brown  

Coda:  Although California is facing massive economic problems, whether worse or just a bit further along than New York, at least for their elections, compared to New York,  this seems to be shaping up as a question of candidates' politics and ideas, and not whether the candidates are too corrupt to run. Jerry Brown's candidacy,whether he is successful or not, reflects a promise of creative and visionary politics: Pragmatism, personal and political philosophies and the concept of public service, not just self-aggrandisement or pocket lining. Refreshing.
--Brooklyn Beat

NASA: "Chile Quake Likely Shifted the Earth's Axis and Shortened The Day"

Things seem a bit off-kilter?

Bloomberg News reports that "The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said. " 

“The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),” Gross, said today in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).”


The enormous and complex shifting of the tectonic plates that caused the Chile earthquake have unimaginably powerful impact on the planet.

Bloomberg: “What definitely the earthquake has done is made the Earth ring like a bell,” Rietbrock said. The magnitude 9.1 Sumatran in 2004 that generated an Indian Ocean tsunami shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted the axis by about 2.3 milliarcseconds, Gross said.
"The changes happen on the day and then carry on “forever,” Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, said in an e-mail."

Downstate and Downtime in the Empire State

Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. Photo by Brooklyn Beat.

Wall Street Journal: "The Decline of the Empire State"

Excerpt: "Move over, New Jersey, you're getting a run for your tax money as the nation's most dysfunctional state from the once great mecca of commerce and finance known as New York. Politics in the Empire State has become a carnival of spendthrifts, sexual miscreants and the all-purpose ethically challenged.

In the latest sign that the Apocalypse is upon Albany, New York Governor David Paterson announced yesterday that he won't seek election to a full term in November only two weeks after he had announced that he would. Mr. Paterson, a Democrat who became governor in March 2008 after Eliot Spitzer resigned in a prostitution scandal, has spent the past two years lurching from one fiasco to the next. Meanwhile, back in Manhattan and in the spirit of the current New York state of mindlessness, Mr. Spitzer is said to be plotting a comeback. As gossip columnist Cindy Adams of the New York Post likes to say, "Only in New York, kids, only in New York." Alas.

Twice as Farce: Second, Consecutive NYS Governor Forced Out

Like most New Yorkers, we greeted the rise of David Patterson, NY's Lt. Governor, as New York's first African American and disabled governor, with great joy, pride and hope, following the resignation of elected former Governor Eliot Spitzer.  Although his administration got off to a slow start, citizens were hopeful and willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The recent swirl of rumors notwithstanding, one had to give him a great deal of respect for attempting to battle the odds and seek election to a full term. The recent crisis brought on by the alleged malfeasance of his trusted assistant, David Johnson, followed by indications that the NY State Troopers appear to have been involved in pressuring Johnson's fiance, as well as a call by the Governor to Ms. Booker, Mr. Johnson's fiance, followed by the the resignation of the administration's criminal justice coordinator over this apparent interference, have swept through Albany and thrown state politics into a maelstrom. The Governor will make a statement later today on his future plans.


AP-Sources: Paterson Won't Seek NewTerm

NY Daily News: Insider, Governor WIll Not Run

NY 1: Patterson Abandons Plan to Seek Full Term

Oh, It's a Mess Out There

Happily, our younger girls in high school and my Better Half, who has to drive to the school where she works on the Queens border,m are all home today, as are our college-age kids who are hoem and off for the day.

Hiking before 7 AM to East 17th Street, which was unplowed, I walked in the tracks of cars that had made it through. Some neighbors were trying to dig out their cars. The snow, thick, wet and heavy, was more burdensome than the more recent snow day a couple of weeks ago. The Q train moved slow as molasses, or, more accurately, glacially slow.  The train was emptier than usual at that hour; I sat at the end of the car, and instead of tuning out to my Ipod, I sat and witnesses the morning commute.  A gentle sort of crisis, snowstorms bring out all of those dedicated, or simply more habituated souls, who find adventure in the thick white piles, or else who simply feel the need to make it into work. The train crawled along quietly, some folks reading or watching the flakes fall. By the time the Q got to Church Avenue,  passengers began to get and receive calls -- "Where were they?" "Are they making it into work today?"  I continued my morning of texts with a colleague who was commuting in from Staten Island on an Express Bus as the Q chugged along.  On a snowy day on the subway, there is an unspoken acknowledgement that we are all part of that subset of New Yorkers: NYC working people.


I finally got down to Brooklyn Heights and treated myself to a good cup of coffee and an egg white and spinach sandwich from Court Order deli. I got up to the office and was the first one in.  Unlike yesterday, when Brooklyn had mostly rain, the snow was thick and even drifting in spots all across Court Street. The phones started ringing early, but it wasn't business, just folks checking in to say they were doing the sensible thing and staying home.

My colleague from Staten Island made it in, as did a few other folks.  It seems like it will be a relatively slow and quiet Friday

In the current economic downturn, I totally empathize with those people who need a job, want to work, but don't have one right now. On an ordinary day, especially when I haven't taken a day off in awhile, I will be tired, a bit resentful of the grind; imagining staying on my train after my stop to go to a film or a museum or just a leisurely breakfast somewhere, anything other than (ugggh) work.  So there is something strangely comforting, perhaps another one of those metaphors for living, about the effort to get into the workplace on a very snowy, inclement day, the value that we place on our working lives and our identities. Work is of course about money, "earning a living," but it is more than just that. 
 
On a snowy day, making that special effort to get into work is how we demark our lives from one of "homo ludens" -- people who play and consume, to "homo faber" -- humans who make, and work and do. 

Brooklyn Heights Update:Wind, Snow (in the air) and Slush (on the ground)

Although we hear in some neighborhoods (Flatbush, Staten Island and Queens) a bit of snow is piling up, here in Brooklyn Heights not much snow on the ground to speak of...heavy in the sky but just slush underfoot. Let's see what happens later today, although the revionist forecast is now talking about a meer 3 inches or so in most places. Go easy, y'all.

High Winds, Heavy Snow

Well, here we are. 

Weather.com's storm track and local travel advisories

Forecast: Weather or Not We Get Hit Hard

Snow...Snow! SNOW!

Stew and Heidi "Making It" at St. Anne's Warehouse

We caught Stew, Heidi Rodewald and their great band (Marty Beller-drums, Michael McGinnis-woodwinds, Joe McGinty-keyboards, Dan Peck-tuba, Brian Dry- trombone) at St.Anne's Warehouse. Although the Tony-award winning success of "Passing Strange" as it moved from workshop in Berkeley to off-Broadway, to Broadway as well as Spike Lee's film of the Broadway performance, has virtually associated them with new musical theater, the current show is essentially a concert, featuring a song cycle, soon to be an album, called "Making It" that follows the complications that life can take when Stew and Heidi began to achieve the dreams from the earlier years that they sang about in "Passing Strange." It features a number of new tunes, very expansively developed with the wind section and the entire band.

On Saturday, Stew was wearing a bright orange coverall. Was this comfortable concert wear, like Pete Townsend, circa Pure and Easy, or like something you would wear in Fresno County Jail, a metaphor that asks the question, even after "Making It," is Stew a prisoner of the road?

As Stew made clear, it was a concert not a theatrical event ("Plays close. Concerts don't.") It was a somewhat abbreviated concert at that, an hour of the new music, followed by a few songs from the catalog (including "Ken" about a gay "Ken" Doll). Still, although Stew asserts his identity as a musician over that of a dramatist, the show managed to feature some interesting stage-crawling theatrics and multi-media moments by set and video designers Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg.

But, still, abbreviated it was. Maybe it was the full-day they had spent in the studio, but before the show was even over, Stew was griping a bit over the scheduled "talk back" moderated by Bill Bragin, a producer and apparent goombah of Stew and Heidi from Public Theater days. This appeared to be part of St. Anne's "Meet the Composer" program. As Stew kept saying, who needs the talk anyway, don't the songs say it all? In fairness to the performers, since "Making It" was commissioned by St. Anne's this chat appears to have been contracted as a part of the run.

Once the lights went up and the musical portion ended, things got interesting and a little wild, even for St. Anne's. In the chaotic littoral between the actual set and the subsequent gabfest, and not knowing how long the "talk back" would last, some folks, since things appeared to be in motion, got up and made a beeline for lobby. Others in the audience also made their move, either to hit the streets looking for a drink or for a quick run to the rest room.

I couldn't tell if Stew was amused or annoyed, but he began to lead the band in a down and dirty improvised vamp of "They Don't Want to Hear the Talking!" which frankly was among the more amusing, unscripted moments of the night. Some retook our seats. The moderator made his way to the stage. Some folks left for good and Bragin led a fairly brief, tame and mildly informative chat with Heidi and Stew, seeming to rely too much on the audience's input. Stew alternately complimented the audience's intelligence for not asking questions, and chided us, for being afraid to ask. But, like Stew,and Her Majesty, once the show was over, the audience didn't have a lot to say.

But there were two interesting nuggets culled from the "Meet the Composer" talk back: Heidi Rodewald had a strong solo in "Making It," seeming to share the spotlight more fully with Stew (at least for one number) than occurred in "Passing Strange." She observed that, because it was a concert, she had that featured role but wondered if it went to a full-blown theatrical production, whether she would be allowed to retain the spotlight. Stew laughed but, as with all ex-es, no doubt there was more than a twinge of truth in the humor.

Also, when a youngster in the audience asked what inspired him to turn to music, Stew mentioned the usual rock fare of The Beatles in Hard Day's Night, but then he came clean with a great great great great bit of 1960s honesty:

Stew's early and important inspiration? Glen Campbell.

Glen Campbell performs classic Wichita Lineman

"Making It" is at St. Anne's Warehouse through February 22.

Duking It Out on Mount Parnassus

Duking it out on Mount Parnassus, l to r: Gore Vidal, Janet Flanner, Dick Cavett, Norman Mailer

Last night I was thinking of the George Washington article in the NY Times the other day and I remembered the famous 1971 interview on Dick Cavett with Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer. A small part of it concerned Vidal talking about Washington’s teeth, that they weren’t wood, they were ivory and bone which he soaked in Madeira wine. Cavett commented: “They must have been very tasty..”

The rest of the interview involved (or devolved to, with great comic effect) the famous feud between Mailer and Vidal, with Cavett as witty interlocutor who turned his barbs on Mailer when the late author, violating the cardinal rule of “thou shall never be inebriated on TV,” turned on all of the other guests and the audience. It was a classic confrontation, which Mailer himself deliciously recounts, with mordantly self-deprecating flair in his collection of essays, “Pieces and Pontifications.”


In fairness to Mailer, Vidal had charged in a NY Review of Books article at that time that he was part of “3M – (Henry) Miller, (Charles) Manson and (Norman) Mailer” promoting violence against women. Mailer, a great American author and journalist, was no saint in his personal life, even arrested for assaulting one of his wives, but to charge that his writings were akin to mass murder is an insult to both Mailer and Miller. While I enjoy Vidal’s writing as well, his argument about 3M was an intellectual construct of that era, but it is ironic in retrospect that Gore turned his back on freedom of expression, in accusing Mailer and Miller of fomenting violence against women, while today Vidal feels free to "report" on the wide conspiracies he sees in 9/11. But that was in the 1970s, at the same time complex, and yet more innocent, than today.

Here is a portion of the Cavett interview/debate/verbal jousting match

And finally Dick Cavett’s delightful recounting of the interview in his NY Times blog is here

It includes the following:

Flanner: They’re here, he’s here, I’m here . . . and I’m growing very, very bored. [Throws kiss to

Mailer with her white-gloved hand, getting big laugh.]

Mailer: You still haven’t told me whether you’re Gore’s manager or the referee.

Cavett: If you make history here by punching a lady. [laughter]

Flanner: I won’t have it! I won’t have it!

Mailer: Now, look, you see the sort of thing that goes on. Now you say I make history by punching a lady. You know perfectly well…you know perfectly well that I’m the gentlest of the four people here. [laughter]

Cavett: I just hope it lasts through the next whatever we have left.

Mailer: I guarantee you I wouldn’t hit any of the people here, because they’re smaller.

Cavett [beginning to steam]: In what ways smaller?

Mailer: Intellectually smaller.

Cavett: Let me turn my chair and join these people. [I do.] Perhaps you’d like two more chairs to contain your giant intellect. [applause]

Mailer: I’ll take the two chairs if you will all accept finger bowls.

(Mailer wrote later about this moment: “This remark was sufficiently gnomic for Cavett to chew and get to no witty place.”)

Cavett [mystified]: Who wants to grab this on our team? [pause] I nearly have it. It means something to me. Finger bowls. Things you dip your fingers in after you’ve gotten them filthy from eating. Am I on the right track? Am I warm?

Mailer: Why don’t you look at your question sheet and ask a question?

Cavett: Why don’t you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don’t shine.

[Following this exchange, wild, sustained laughter. Mailer, eager to reply, can only stab the air with his finger until it subsides.]

Mailer: Mr. Cavett, on your word of honor, did you just make that up, or have you had it canned for years, and you were waiting for the best moment to use it?

Cavett: I have to tell you a quote from Tolstoy?

Live from New Orleans! Mardi Gras

Forget the snow in NYC. Sure looks like they are having fun in NOLA!

The term Mardi Gras" , refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Epiphany and ending on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday" (in ethnic English tradition, Shrove Tuesday), referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which started on Ash Wednesday. Related popular practices were associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. Popular practices included wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, etc. Similar expressions to Mardi Gras appear in other European languages sharing the Christian tradition. In English, the day is called Shrove Tuesday, associated with the religious requirement for confession before Lent begins.

In many areas, the term "Mardi Gras" has come to mean the whole period of activity related to the celebratory events, beyond just the single day. In some US cities, it is now called "Mardi Gras Day" or "Fat Tuesday".[ The festival season varies from city to city, as some traditions consider Mardi Gras the entire period between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday. Others treat the final three-day period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras.

More here:

Known as ParadeCam during the Mardi Gras Season, Streetcar Cam gives you a window on the corner of Napoleon St. and St. Charles Avenue where the New Orleans streetcars run and Mardi Gras Parades begin their route

Livestreaming from New Orleans here

THEATER: Shepard's Tale - 'A Lie of the Mind'

In mounting the first major revival of Sam Shepard's "A Lie of the Mind" since its 1985 off-Broadway run that featured Harvey Keitel and Geraldine Page among its legendary cast, Ethan Hawke has taken on a challenging play for ensemble, that is dark, chaotic, with mythical subtexts about family, loyalty, love and violence. Shepard's play is set in the modern American West,and this off-Broadway staging by the New Group theater company, directed by Ethan Hawke, resonates with the conflicts, pressures, and search for identity that seems to trouble the water in the current day, as war, economic upheaval, social unrest and identity crises bring challenges to us as individuals and as a society.

Great cast, featuring Frank Whaley, Josh Hamilton, Karen Young, Maggie Siff, Alessandro Nivola,Laurie Metcalf, Keith Carradine and Marin Ireland. Gorgeous set by Derek McClane. Haunting original music by Gaines, performed on found and adapted instruments. Laurie Metcalf, Karen Young and Keith Carradine as the parents of the couple at the heart of the story, played by Marin Ireland and Alessandro Nivola. Frank Whaley and Josh Hamilton are the respective brothers of the troubled couple who try to provide support, and in their opposing ways, set things right. Maggie Siff is the sister of Nivola's Jake, whose personal demons have twisted love and violence in a Gordian knot that leads to the spousal abuse that sets the play in motion. "A Lie of the Mind" is a complex, dark, and ultimately mystifying journey that again shows why Sam Shepard is an important contemporary American playwright, and especially in the hands of director Ethan Hawke and this powerful ensemble of actors, musicians, and theater artists.

In limited run through March 20. Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, NY. Tickets available call 212-279-4200 or go to The New Group link here.

A N.Y. Times interview with the cast here.

A New York magazine piece on Ethan Hawke and the New Group company here



Above photo by Chad Batka for The New York Times
Clockwise from top left, the cast and director of the new Off Broadway production of “A Lie of the Mind”: Frank Whaley, Josh Hamilton, Karen Young, Maggie Siff, Alessandro Nivola, Ethan Hawke, Laurie Metcalf, Keith Carradine and Marin Ireland.