carol king & james taylor "live at the troubadour" review

james taylor and carol king's newest release, "live at the troubadour," is a trip down memory lane, for the two of them - and fans as well. this performance was recorded in 2007, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the troubadour, a west hollywood venue that hosted many of their early concerts (together with the likes of elton john, the eagles, and joni mitchell, among other notable artists to have played there). what was intended as a "one-off" reunion (and included members of their original group), instead turned-into a world tour. the album release (together with a dvd of the performance) just kicked off their tour.

as expected from two of the most prolific and successful song writers, the fifteen song set list is heavy with their major hits: "so far way," "carolina on my mind," "it's too late," "fire and rain," "sweet baby james," "i feel the earth move," and "you've got a friend." but taylor gets in a few old chestnuts ("blossom" and "machine gun kelly"), while king performs a couple of songs she wrote for other groups ("up on the roof" for the drifters and "will you still love me tomorrow" for the shirelles). it's an impressive mix of songs. despite the co-billing however, only one song, "you've got a friend," is performed as a duet.

still taylor and king play as old friends - and it's difficult to image that almost 40 years have elapsed since they last played together in the early 1970s. there's an intimacy to the performance that goes beyond two seasoned musicians playing side by side - they genuinely like each other. that mood is certainly enhanced by their original band mates on stage. as taylor introduced them ("the section"): "... still alive and at the top of their game." the trio includes, danny kortchmar (guitar), leland sklar (bass) and russell kunkel (drums).

the chatter between songs is also fun. right after "blossom" carol king noted that as she prepared for the tour, her brain didn't remember the song. but when she played it, her fingers and heart did. taylor recites the familiar story of his drive down to visit his newborn nephew as the catalyst for "sweet baby james." and, for their duet on "you've got a friend," taylor noted how much he was moved by the song when he first heard carol perform it. then, taylor added, he didn't know then that he'd perform it every night, ever since!

this is a must get for any taylor or king fan!

here is the set list:

blossom
so far away
machine gun kelly
carolina in my mind
it's too late
smackwater jack
something in the way she moves
will you still love me tomorrow
country road
fire and rain
sweet baby james
i feel the earth move
you've got a friend
up on the roof
you can close your eyes

"boogie man: the lee atwater story" dvd release

"boogie man: the lee atwater story" had a 40-city theatrical release in 2008. i reviewed the documentary after it was shown in new york city. the following year, it was shown on pbs as part of the frontline series. yesterday, the directors cut version was released on dvd. bonus material includes deleted scenes and additional interviews (plus and msnbc interview with the director).

i watched the bonus material first. in fact, i watched the entire dvd before pulling up my old review to see if my impressions had changed in almost two years. i still think "boogie man" is a must watch for any political junkie. atwater was one of the most important political operatives during the last quarter of the 20th century. atwater was a major force during the politcal campaigns of the reagan/bush years. if you didn't live through these years, this documentary is a great primer.

my intitial take on the documentary still holds true - there were too many important people in lee atwater's life that did not appear in the film to make this a comprehensive look at the man. that said, the cast of character assembled to tell the tale did an admirable job presenting the good and bad of the atwater story. some of the most enjoyable interviewees were with eric alterman, tucker askew, roger stone, and mary matalin. alterman, both on screen and in the deleted scenes, comes off especially sincere (since he and atwater were on opposite sides of the political spectrum).

the most unwatchable interviewee was howard fineman. his ugly remark that, 'life has a way of getting even with you in the end" was so grossly inappropriate and mean spirited that i almost turned off the dvd! it's so pathetically facile to fall back on lame cliches like that one - but to utter it out loud (and for the record) ... shame on you howard fineman. atwater himself alluded to sun tzu's "art of war" - getting inside the head of your enemy, when he said, "now cancer used it on me." a far more nobly expressed sentiment.

all in all, atwater's impact echoed far beyond his death in 1991. his protege, karl rove, was instrumental in the political career (in texas and nationally) of george w. bush. and, politics aside, it was fun to see the musical ("blues") side of atwater's life given some coverage. last but not least, you gotta love all those 1980's running scenes :D

katie's late afternoon lacrosse game :D

what a great afternoon to be outside! when i got home from work today, instead of going out for a run, i drove over to white plains to catch katie's lacrosse game. the irony of watching the game at the white plains high school track wasn't lost on me.

years ago, when i was a member of the westchester track club, that's where we did our wednesday night speed workouts! and, in those days, katie was young enough to wait for us to finish the workout in the bleachers with her barbie dolls :D





the girls won the game :D

"the girl with the dragon tattoo" (“man som hatar kvinnor”) movie review

Yesterday Pat and I went to see “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (“Man Som Hatar Kvinnor”), a dark, violent thriller. The film’s icy winter landscapes added to the sense of escapism from the rogue heat-wave that had rolled into town for the weekend! The film is the first of Stieg Larsson’s posthumously published “Millennium Trilogy.”

The first thing I noticed was the contrast between the original title (of the book and film), “Men Who Hate Women” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” It seems that misogyny isn’t that big a draw. Also, women are demoted to girls (one girl in fact - who did have tattoos - and body piercing) in the translation. The title change was inappropriate as the story unfolded.

The girl in question, is Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace. Lisbeth is an unsmiling, brooding goth; decidedly anti-social, tightly wound and a computer hacker. We learn of Lisbeth’s background via fiery flashbacks. She was abused at the hands of her father. But aside from flashbacks, Lisbeth refused to open up to Mikael Blomkvist, her unlikely partner in researching the mysterious disappearance of a 16 year old teenager in 1966. Their relationship was conveniently formed when Mikael banged on Lisbeth’s apartment door.

Mikael, an investigative reporter for “Millennium” magazine, opened the film by losing a libel case brought against him by an angry industrialist. The six months of freedom Mikael has before reporting to prison is contracted for by Henrik Vanger, yet another industrialist. Vanger hires Mikael to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriet (under the guise of doing a family history). Before he was hired, Vanger has Mikael's background vetted by the firm that employs Lisbeth. Her summary, to Vanger, was that Mikael was framed in the libel case.

Lisbeth continued to hack into Mikael’s files long after her assignment concluded. She stumbled upon the meaning of a series of mysterious names and numbers written in the back of Harriet’s diary that Mikael was trying to decode. On impulse, she emailed her discovery to Mikael and he, in turn, tracked her down. He found Lisbeth, asleep with a girlfriend and reluctant to let him in to her apartment. But it was a false reluctance because, as he pointed out, why would an expert hacker leave such an easy trail back to herself - one even he could follow.

But, Mikael isn’t a novice investigator. We see him deep in the photo archives of the local paper to obtain negatives from the day Harriet disappeared from the island. In a scene that echoed John Travolta’s assembly of a flip book of photos and sound in “Blow Out,” Mikael created a short, motion based clip of Harriet and showed it to Vanger. It's the newest evidence in years! The island is populated with multiple generations of Vangers - each a suspect. From that point on, the connections and coincidences become more and more far fetched - and bring in Nazism, serial killing, mutilation, religious fanaticism to mention just a few.

Surprising, given the circumstances, Lisbeth crawled into bed with Mikael the first night on the island. For someone who had been raped and brutalized by her "guardian" just days earlier, that scene pushed the envelope of credibility. My major issue with the film, in fact, is the repeatedly gratuitous and senseless violence. The violence against Lisbeth did not further the investigative story line. Prior to the her rape, Lisbeth was brutally beaten by a gang of street hoods (and lost her computer in the process). After she was rape, Lisbeth returned to the scene and exacted an equally gruesome revenge on her tormentor.

If the film had retained the original title, all the violence against Lisbeth may have illuminated the "men who hate women." When the mystery is finally solved, the true hideousness of the serial killings, once again, was perpetrated by monsters who hate women! Without spoiling the finale, Harriet herself was ultimately beset by monsters who hated women. And, in the most incredulous finish of all, Lisbeth molts out of her goth character and into something so out of unbelievable, as to be jaw-dropping!

If "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is remade in America, it’s a good bet that the scenes of violence and brutality will be attenuated. The film's long running time, 251 minutes, could have been reduced substantially, without any impact on the main story line, simply by editing out the most of the violence against Lisbeth. Or keep in the violence and restore the original title! The second installment of the trilogy, “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” is already slated for release this summer.

2010 law day 5k: race report

it was a surprisingly hot day for the 2010 law day 5k in darien. if fact, seemed to be the kick-off of a rogue heat wave that saw weekend temperatures soar into the 80s! a tough adjustment coming off a week that kicked off with wet, dreary weather and worked its way up to sunny and windy conditions by friday! even so, it was beautiful day to be outside (even if it was a bit hot to run)! the fred weisberg memorial law day 5k was still a great way to spend saturday morning.

the race doubled as a fundraiser for the connecticut legal services summer intern scholarship program. it's run on the same course as the bunny boogie 3 miler. to correct for the extra distance, the bunny boogie starting line is moved back a 10th of a mile. in all other respects, the courses are identical (with one big hill to climb in mile 2). in a twist (from my "just in time arrivals") , i got to pear tree point beach early because i had dropped katie off for an sat-biology test at 7:30 - and then drove straight to the race.

as a consequence, i got to mark the course with ronnie and kate. jim recruited us as last minute volunteers. we had a lot of fun jogging the course and trying to determine where to put down the mile markers! the entire process doubled as a decent warm-up for us. interestingly, there was an open house taking place along the course and the parked cars there eventually blocked the second mile marker! not that big of a deal in the overall scheme of things.

once the race kicked off, i expected to be passed by younger attorneys - but there didn't seem to be that many running the race. as it turned out, the first woman attorney did beat me! but my 21:56 finish was good enough for first male attorney finisher! that was my slowest time running this race (well off my 19:36 pr for this course back in 2005). the 7:04 pace was also off my target of sub-7 minute miles. but, be that as it may, i was more than happy with the outcome!

afterwards, we had a great time socializing. just a few of the familiar cast of characters that ran: emmy, kate, john, rob, roy, ronnie, and anatolie. while i took sunday off from racing, kate and john doubled up and ran the westport 5k! i ran a few more miles saturday afternoon, and then a hilly 10 miler on sunday morning. now that it's sunday night, looks like the mini heat wave has broken (and we may get a little rain in the process)! tough weekend to run!

here are my race photos.

2010 law day 5k race: photos and results

the 2010 law day (a/k/a "fred weisberg memorial") 5k is in the books. it's been a few years since i last ran this race. but the course itself is very familiar - having run it last month at the bunny boogie :D i was a little surprised to be the first attorney finisher (expected a 20 or 30 something youngster to blow by me)! my 21:56 was the slowest finish for for me at the law day 5k, but it was good enough for third in my ag! before the race, i joined ronnie and kate in marking the course (which doubled as a warm-up jog) :D

here is my race report; and, here are the race results.





here are the rest of my photos (posted on facebook).

may 2010 race schedule

the may schedule kicks off with a trip to darien this morning for the law day 5k - a race i've run many times in prior years. it's basically the same course as the bunny boogie three miler, which katie ran with me last month. she's skipping this one because instead of running, she's taking an sat-biology test this morning. and tomorrow, her rescheduled field hockey practice makes the minute man 5k a non-starter as well :(

as for the rest of the month, next week is the long island greenbelt 50k. it's another race in the ny ultrarunning grand prix series, and the race director, nick palazzo, is a good friend. expect to see a lot of familiar faces for that one!

the following weekend is something new. three days at the fair is actually 3 separate races (48 hours, 24 hours, and 12 hours), spread out over the three days at the sussex county fairgrounds. right now i'm planning to run the 24 hour race, but this plan is still in flux.

the brooklyn half marathon, the next weekend, is one of my favorite races at any distance. with the course direction reversed, now run from prospect park to coney island, i like it even more! this is also a family affair because pat and katie drive a group of us to the start and then meet us at the finish!!

last, but not least, is a return to the pineland farms trail challenge. i had to miss this 50 miler last year because it conflicted with the pioneer trek 100m run. since the trek is run every other year, this may become a pattern :D

here's what the schedule looks like, so far:

5/1 - law day 5k
5/8 - long island greenbelt 50k
5/15 - 3 days at the fair, 24 hour run
5/22 - brooklyn half marathon
5/30 - pineland farms trail run 50m

as always, if you're at any of them, say hello!