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Woodward's essay on Deep Throat

Posted by Unknown on June 02, 2005

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Here's the link to Bob Woodward's essay. Discuss away.

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109th Bethlehem Bach Festival

When I was in sixth grade, I wanted to play the oboe. I have no idea why I wanted to play this obscure instrument. It's not sexy like the trumpet or the sax, and it's not quirky like the trombone or fun like the drums, but regardless the oboe was for me. (I never did play the oboe, but that is another story.) I think I knew intuitively what the oboe could do was special.
This weekend at the 109th Bethlehem Bach Festival in Pennsylvania I heard what might just be the very reason the oboe exists. Friday night, at Packer Memorial Church at Lehigh University, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and the Bach Festival Orchestra, under the baton of veteran conductor and artistic director Greg Funfgeld, gave us Songs of Joy, including Bach's Easter Oratorio BWV 249. In the second movement, an unusual second orchestral sinfonia before the joyous aria, is centered on a mournful oboe solo. It reminds us that Christ has died and lies within the tomb, the perfect counterpoint to the bright,…

Hello, Bette!*

Some Broadway shows tell a poignant story, others are fall down funny, and still others showcase a selection of songs. Then, there is the star vehicle. Hello, Dolly! is just that, and there is no more perfect a star for the role of Dolly Levi today than Bette Midler. Every time she was on stage it was just her and the audience, and this 71-year-old left nothing in reserve. From the moment she arrived on stage to the final bow, it was hard to look at anything other than Bette out of fear that I might miss something. Yet there was so much worth looking at, including some of my favorite costumes ever. Bette's every look, every step, every turn is in service to comedy, and the the audience of course. Her smile would light up the theatre every time, and I'm sure every one of the 1430 in the audience thought it was for them. When she finally made her appearance for the the 11 o'clock number and title song, all in red sequins and feathers at the top of the staircase, there was n…

Sharon Kay Penman's A King's Ransom

Richard the Lionheart, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Poitou and Anjou was the very definition of foolhardy. At the approach of his death (no this is not a spoiler as he died in 1199), I found myself angry with the great king for the reckless behavior that ended his life after only a decade of rule. The promise of what could have been died that April day with the Lionheart. If there are moments where the future of the world changes, author Sharon Kay Penman makes you believe that this was one of them. Jerusalem might have been returned to Christian rule had Richard returned to the Holy Land, and if he ruled long into old age, as his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine did, the Magna Carta forced on King John in 1215 at Runnymede would have been unnecessary, and thus even American democracy might have been affected by the Lionheart.
My anger was fleeting in response to A King's Ransom, for there is a deep and abiding sadness that permeates this biography of King…

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